Ten Commandments

Ihesus. The Floure of the Commaundements of God with Many Examples. London: Wynkyn de Worde, 8 October 1521



Folio (10 3/4 x 7 1/4 in.; 273 x 184 mm). Printed in black letter, small woodcuts surrounding the Ten Commandments on title, full-page woodcut of the Crucifixion on title verso, several woodcut illustrations in the text [Hodnett 491, 492, 535, 465, 451, 362, 492, 538], woodcut initials with zoomorphic or floral decoration, printer's device below colophon [McKerrow 46a], large woodcut on verso with bar-ornaments [including McKerrow 49 and 50]; as few wormholes affecting text, several light dampstains in margins. Contemporary London calf, blind-stamped in a panel design with roll-tools in the frames [Oldham (Shrewsbury) A.II. 15a(1)], clasps and catches; joints, head and foot of spine expertly repaired, later endpapers, a few small scuff-marks in lower cover mended.

Michael Tomkinson, Franche Hall, Worcestershire (bookplate) — James Stewart Geikie (bookplate) — Albert and John Ehrman, Broxbourne Library (bookplates, monogram, their sale at Sotheby's, 15 November 1977, lot 238) — Michael Sharpe (bookplate)

STC 23877

Ihesus. The Floure of the Commaundements of God with Many Examples. London: Wynkyn de Worde, 8 October 1521 Folio (10 3/4 x 7 1/4 in.; 273 x 184 mm). Printed in black letter, small woodcuts surrounding the Ten Commandments on title, full-page woodcut of the Crucifixion on title verso, several woodcut illustrations in the text [Hodnett 491, 492, 535, 465, 451, 362, 492, 538], woodcut initials with zoomorphic or floral decoration, printer's device below colophon [McKerrow 46a], large woodcut on verso with bar-ornaments [including McKerrow 49 and 50]; as few wormholes affecting text, several light dampstains in margins. Contemporary London calf, blind-stamped in a panel design with roll-tools in the frames [Oldham (Shrewsbury) A.II. 15a(1)], clasps and catches; joints, head and foot of spine expertly repaired, later endpapers, a few small scuff-marks in lower cover mended.
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Second edition in English of the Ten Commandments along with commentary employing exempla drawn from Scripture based on Johannes Herolt's Promptuarium (ca. 1440). The use of exempla or model stories to teach ethics was very popular in the Middle Ages and continues to our own time in the instruction of children. Herolt's work was formed into a French version under the title Fleur des Commandements, and the present volume is in turn, an English translation, done by Andrew Chertsey (fl. 1502–1527).  

Chertsey is known for supplying the printer Wynkyn de Worde with English translations of French devotional treatises and works of spiritual guidance. Chertsey added his own verse prologue to this translation (which first appeared in 1510) in both prose and verse, declaring that the aim of his work was spiritual profit rather than financial gain. He does not name himself in the prologue, but his identity is revealed on the last page of this edition in a woodcut depicting a coat of arms and a cart bearing the name 'Chertesey'.

A beautiful, crisp copy in a contemporary binding.